CADENCE

Dmitri Matheny Group at the Plush Room
By Stuart Kremsky
February 1, 1996

Dmitri Matheny (flgh) was at a benefit show, 12/12, at the Plush Room, a small SF club that usually presents singers. Working with long-time colleague John Heller (el g), along with Dave Ellis (ts), Bill Douglass (b) and Robert Kaufman (d), Matheny presented a tasty set of modern bebop. The leader, with a tart, controlled sound, came ready to play, an enthusiasm which carried over to the rest of the group. Ellis, playing with more fluidity than he usually displays in Charlie Hunter’s group, was a particular pleasure. The first set was mostly Matheny originals, generally in the spirit of Horace Silver’s “The Outlaw” that opened the show. Matheny and company play 1/13 at Slim’s on a bill with former San Francisco street performer Sonny Simmons, 1/18 at the SF Museum of Modern Art, 2/14 at Weill Recital Hall in NY and tour the West in April.